Waubonsee Community College

Coffee break!, directed by Júrgen Laurvig and Bent Erik Krúyer

eng

videorecording

For High School; College; Adult audiences

Coffee break!

electronic resource

780750793

directed by Júrgen Laurvig and Bent Erik Krúyer

28

Global business and economics in video

Next to oil, coffee is the most important commodity in the world. Millions of cups are consumed daily around the world. Yet few people know anything about the cost of the product in human and environmental terms. This documentary was filmed during the coffee harvest on a farm near the border between Nicaragua and Honduras. Here the conditions are almost feudal. The work starts at 12:30 at night and continues until six the next evening. On a good day, the best of the pickers can earn up to three dollars, but most of the women and children earn half that much. Children as young as eight are out in the fields to add to their family's income. In addition to the back breaking labor, the workers are exposed to pesticides that are harmful both to themselves and the environment. Even though coffee prices go higher and higher, it does not change the conditions of the farm workers in their marginal existence

general